Many electronic devices have certain built-in testing capabilities. For example, power management blocks may include one or more voltage supplies, and each voltage supply may have multiple voltage monitors associated therewith. The voltage monitors may have different thresholds (such as, for example, a HV supply over a range from 2.7V to 6V will have voltage monitors being associated with different thresholds such as 2.7V, 3.0V, . . . , 6V, a MV supply over a range from 1.5V to 2.4V will have voltage monitors being associated with different thresholds such as 1.5V, 1.6V, . . . , 2.4V, and a LV supply over a range from 0.7V to 1.15V will have voltage monitors being associated with different thresholds such as 0.7V, 0.8V, . . . , 1.15V). The voltage monitor associated with lowest threshold of each supply is non-maskable as the entire electronic device, including a power management block containing the voltage monitors, will be reset when it trips. Voltage monitors associated with other thresholds for all supplies are maskable during test operations, as tripping of these monitors does not reset the power management block and electronic devices are guaranteed to work until the trip point of the voltage monitor associated with lowest threshold. During test operations, the voltage monitors can be tested to determine at what voltage they trip by providing them with a variable test voltage instead of the voltage from their voltage supplies. The “trip” point can thus be determined.
However, as stated, this voltage trip output (if by a non-maskable voltage monitor) serves to reset the entire electronic device, including the power management block. Thus, with each test of a non-maskable voltage monitor, the electronic device must be powered up again. This adds to the time required to perform the testing, which in a production environment, is particularly undesirable.
Therefore, further development in the built-in testing capabilities of power management blocks is necessary.